Quick Draw
Quick Draw is a web mini game built with JavaScript and the Phaser library. Players take on the role of a cowboy in a tense standoff, coordinating mouse aiming and keyboard inputs to quickly draw and fire their gun.
Inspiration
Inspired by Western cowboy culture and its iconic stories, I wanted to recreate the tense moment of a gunslinger duel. The idea draws from the rugged spirit found in works like Red Dead Redemption’s Arthur Morgan, Overwatch’s Cassidy and his ‘High Noon,’ as well as Westworld and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.
Credits
Art assets by @brugetsu.games, sourced from OpenGameArt.org and used under their open license. This project presents my own interpretation of fast-draw duel mechanics.
Mechanic Design
To introduce challenge, I designed custom mechanics using arrow-key inputs to mimic the chaotic moment of drawing a gun.
Players must quickly perform the correct sequence to pull out their weapon before switching to the mouse to aim and fire.
Correct input
Playtests Findings
I noticed players found a shortcut by keeping their cursor on the enemy and clicking while entering commands, letting them fire instantly once the gun was drawn. To preserve the standoff’s tension, I addressed this through several design adjustments.
Design Adjustments
Wrong input
I added strong recoil, requiring players to hold their breath to steady their aim; otherwise the shot drifts wildly.
I added reticle animations that show hand instability.
Breath-holding has a time limit, and hand movement speeds differ between steadying and not steadying, preventing players from having both fast aiming and perfect accuracy.
Additional Art Contributions
Audio
Next Steps
After using external free assets, I created additional Illustrator artwork to keep the style consistent and enrich the scene, including:
Rolling tumbleweeds to heighten tension
Distant pixel mountains to build the environment
Ending props such as tombstones or bounty posters to reflect victory or defeat
UI & Heading Design
For audio, I incorporated:
a musical homage to The Good, the Bad and the Ugly to evoke classic Western tension
a countdown cue leading into the moment of the duel
a wild male voice shouting “Draw!” to heighten immediacy
a tumbleweed scraping sound effect to enhance environmental tension
a short Western-style pixelated sting for the game-over moment
I plan to add online multiplayer to turn the duel into a real-time standoff between players.
I’ve also added draw-speed tracking and a leaderboard to boost replayability.
In the future, I plan to create more levels so the game isn’t limited to a single standoff.
